Saturday, April 26, 2008

This piece posted on Kos is quite enlightening. If it proves out, then I may have to back-peddle on my assertion that working class white folks over 50 inherently dislike or inexplicably fear black people. For now I still believe it, because I know some of those people (you know who you are), but then some of those people are actually close to or are from Appalachia.

The positive outlook from this is that Appalachia is not all that important in the elections. They do not even make up 5% of America. I can only hope that the deep racist attitudes that dominate this region is not so prominent in the rest of the country.

The problem is that scientists now too frequently believe we have the answers to these questions, and hence the mysteries of life. But, oddly, the more we use science to explore nature, the more we find things we do not understand and cannot explain. In reality, both religion and science are expressions of man's uncertainty. Perhaps the paradox is that certainty, whether it be in science or religion, is dangerous. The danger of Dennett's relatively gentle brand of certainty is that it increases polarisation in our society. With inflexible positions on both sides, certainty surely is the biggest threat to rationality, and to science.

Firstly, Lord Winston presents a straw man argument with his claim that Dennett and scientists believe in certainty. That is false. No scientist believes in certainty, scientists are only 'certain' of what they know from test data at any given point in time. When the data - and the facts - change, so does any measure of certainty. Scientists know and understand that for every question that is answered, they find ten more questions.

As for Lord Winston's claim that religion and science being expressions of man's uncertainty, there is a fundamental difference between the two, and therein lies the danger of certainty. Science embraces uncertainty, while religion is automagically certain. As far as being inflexible is concerned, perhaps Lord Winston can identify which has had more influence in the history of mankind, and which has been more successful at persecuting and marginalizing the other. Religion or science?

If certainty is the biggest threat to rationality, then religion is the embodiment of that threat.

Friday, April 25, 2008

I like root beer, and I like bees, but I can't say I like bees in my root beer.

During the lunch time pizza party for my boss's birthday, I cracked open a can of (name withheld) Creamy Root Beer, and took a big swig, only to get a mouthful of something more than I was expecting. The first thought that entered my head was that perhaps it was a cigarette butt, because who hasn't taken a gulp from a cab of beer that was used as an ash tray, at least once. That thought didn't make me feel to good, so I went with a better one. Sediment. Having downed enough bottles of red wine, I've imbibed my share of tartrate crystals and other interesting wine by-products.

Honestly, if it had been a fly, I might have gagged, but I have affinity for bees. Perhaps it is due in part because I am not allergic, but mostly because of all the good work they do pollinating and making honey. No doubt if I were a bee, I'd probably find my way into root beer too.

While you might think that I'm going to make a big to-do about this - and maybe I would if it were something more disgusting than a bee - I am not. I've eaten bugs before, on purpose and by accident (you can't ride a motorcycle and not eat a few bugs), so it's really no big deal. I also have an aversion to frivolous lawsuits, because they serve to devalue the honest work of necessary lawsuits, and usually end up rewarding the lawyers and not the plaintiffs. I also happen to have a great deal of respect for this particular beverage company, and do not wish to disparage them or their products in any way.

Besides, this was a "natural" soda, and you can't get more natural than a bee.

It's pretty bad when one of your major fundraisers abandons your campaign - after raising over $500k for you - to join the campaign of your opponent. That's exactly what former Ambassador to Chile Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon, a "Hillraiser," did today.

Sources in the know claim his reasons for defecting are because of how nasty her campaign tactics have been and that he's concerned about what it's doing to the Democratic party.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Despite what is being reported, blogged, clarified, retracted, etc. about Hillrod raising $10MM overnight, I'm predicting the truth will soon be revealed that this money did not actually come from new donors. Knowing the Clintons as we do, my guess is that there's some funny business going on here. Someone needs to start digging into FEC records, and maybe look into a very large chunk of money suddenly going absent from the Clintons' personal funds or investments.

Remember that Obama campaign spreadsheet that got "leaked" last February, the one with predictions for how this campaign will play out? It's shocking how accurate it has been, with the exception of underestimating the margins of his wins.

As I posted earlier, she cannot win. She did not reach the 12 point threshold she needed to keep her candidacy viable. She might have won the primary in PA, but she lost the primary. As Robert Creamer writes:

The Pennsylvania Primary was Hillary Clinton's last chance to deliver a game changing blow to Obama's campaign for the nomination. She failed to deliver.

Pennsylvania provided her with her final real opportunity to knock the wheels off the Obama campaign. She needed a crushing victory of 18% to 25% to have any real chance of altering the math or the psychology. Demographically, Pennsylvania was made for Hillary: the second oldest state in the nation, heavily blue collar, Catholic and rural -- Hillary's voter profile. She started with a lead of almost 20 points. But her final margin -- which the Pennsylvania Secretary of State says was only 9.2% -- fell far short of what was needed to stop Obama's nomination.

...

All that remains for Clinton are more opportunities for her own campaign to be shut down. If she loses Indiana and North Carolina it will be extremely hard for her to continue. But there is no longer any opportunity for her to defeat Obama.

Clinton's may have won last night, but she failed to do what she needed to do to derail Obama's march to the nomination. In retrospect, Pennsylvania will appear as Clinton's Waterloo.

Hillary Clinton scored a decisive victory against Barack Obama in Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary. But underlying the numbers, there is a new kind of inevitability on the horizon. Certainly her campaign will use the night's victory to propel the race forward into Indiana and North Carolina, hoping against hope that few noticed what actually transpired. But with her luck running as perilously low as her campaign war chest, it would seem improbable that the media would provide her cover yet again.

After tonight, despite an apparent ten point victory in Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton is no longer electable in a general election.

All there is for Obama supporters to do now is to ignore the Main Stream Media as is struggles, stumbles, and falls all over itself, and then climbs up its own collective ass to spin some sort of blathering bullshit that serves no other purpose than to creative some sort of false and useless narrative about this campaign in order to sell more advertising to be shoved down the throats of all those who are unfortunate enough to not see past their true intent.

Actually, one more thing Obama supporters can do is to support the Obama campaign. Donate a few dollars to the campaign, or make some phone calls to North Carolina or Indiana, or send nice emails to the precinct captains and volunteers in those states (here, here).

"Your boy gave a great speech last night. I have to say, hers was better than usual too except I thought it was cheesy to ask for money in the middle of a victory speech ("thanks for voting for me, now send more money"). Sophia gets excited whenever she sees Obama on TV and yells his name and tells us he's on. Yesterday morning she explained to me that 'Woahbama might be our next king. Bush is our king now but we don't really like him.' Apparently she was watching the news with Eric Monday night while I was at my auction meeting. She reminded me that Woahbama was doing that thing today (yesterday) where we might make him our next king (the primary). Very cute."

Could it be that John Edwards has been waiting to endorse a candidate right before the North Carolina primary? Lets hope Barack has recently bought some Kawasaki jet skis.

UPDATE:

I used to respect John Edwards, because as much as I hate frivolous lawsuits, I understand the need for and the value of trial lawyers, in spite of their gross profits. But in this election he has borne himself out to be a charlatan and a moral coward.

Edwards talks a good game, like most lawyers do, but he's been a vulture leering over the fight between a vicious hyena and a hungry lion, waiting to feast on whatever remains when the fight is over.

He is a coward. Edwards has had the chance many times to have an effect on this nominating cycle, and he has passed each of them by, as he will again this time. Edwards is as calculating as Clinton is, and he is too scared to throw his weight behind either candidate for fear of ending up on the wrong side and having nothing to show for two failed runs at the presidency. Of course, that is if you count $400 haircuts and a few million dollars as nothing.

Johnny has one last chance to prove relevancy before history passes him by. Any takers for a bet that he doesn't have the balls that his mill-worker daddy had?

One last mention for the fund-raiser my Mom is doing for Lew Reed Spinal Cord Injury Fund, with the money going to the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis from the University of Miami School of Medicine. Her goal is to raise $1000 by next Saturday, and every little bit helps. You can send a donation via PayPal to ckonrad48@yahoo.com.

On Monday I posted my thoughts on the film I saw, Body of War, about an Iraq War vet with a spinal injury. Bill Moyers Journal did a feature on this, and you can watch it on the website for the show. Perhaps this will provide a little motivation to donate maybe $20, or $10, or maybe even just $5. Every little bit helps.

After next Saturday, an email will go out to all contributors announcing the amount raised, and who contributed how much. If you want your donation to be anonymous, or prefer not to display your full name, please indicate that when you make the payment.

This is important to me, to my Mom, and to the beneficiaries of this research. Thanks in advance.

This is a little old right now, but still worth a mention. This past April Sunday was definitely 4-20 for Hillary. I wonder what she was smoking?

Here she is lashing out at Obama like a post-menopausal freak:

Obama: "You have a real choice in this election. Either Democrat would be better than John McCain. And all three of us would be better than George Bush."

Clinton: "We need a nominee who will take on John McCain, not cheer on John McCain."

Here's what she said last month:

"I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it's imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold...I believe that I've done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you'll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy."

Also from last month:

"I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it's imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold...I believe that I've done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you'll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy."

Again, just like Republiscums, the term hypocrisy does not exist in her vocabulary, at least as far as she is concerned. It is being absurd, but entirely predictable. This ranks right up there with her confusing her vote to authorize Bush to invade Iraq with being against the war, and that Obama was the flip-flopper because he voted to support the troops.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Pennsylvania Democrats delivered this one today, to the Democratic party. While it was merely a glancing blow to the Obama campaign, it was enough to telegraph all the way to weakening the chances of the party to take back the White House (and Congress, and a chance at getting a SCOTUS judge or two).

Those white middle-aged voters are no doubt happy they kept their collective thumb on the black man, and make no mistake about it, the race in Pennsylvania was all about race.

Clinton has only two weeks to pull off a major upset in the next primaries coming up May 6, not the six weeks she had in PA. That means we can expect a rapid fire volley of Karl Rove-style meanness and nastiness, the likes we have not seen yet. But who will be the real winner May 6? It won't be Clinton, and it won't be the Democratic party. My guess is it will be the GOP.

Nice going Pennsylvania. You'll share a special place in history right there with Ohio, Florida, and the Supreme Court of 2000. Hope you're all proud.

Without a minimum of a 12 point win today, her campaign is doomed. Whatever win she manages to pull out today, her gains will be erased two weeks from now in North Carolina, and very possibly in Indiana.

Obama has been pretty good so far about keeping his attacks as defensive maneuvers, but he could be better. He's done well at responding to Clinton's attacks, and has kept his "negative blows" to those that parry her attacks. But as every trained fighter knows, you can't always just play defense, and being aggressive is not the same as being negative. As long as Obama speaks truth to Hillary's so-called power, he's in the clear. A strong and successful fighting strategy is to meet every blow with two of your own. If someone punches you, you punch back twice. If they kick you hard, you kick back harder, twice.

Obama has been gentlemanly so far, but the time has long past for this to stop. To win, he doesn't need to praise her campaign, or show admiration for her tenacity, or anything else. She has squandered her right to any respect for her campaign tactics beyond all but those who admire Karl Rove. Obama should not reward her campaign with praise, he should constantly call it out for what it is, but instead should do his best to connect it to the Siegelman case in Alabama, which could prove to be the nail in Rove's coffin, and by extension Clinton's. It will brim as an example of the death of old-school politics.

Any doubters should know that the truth is never negative, it is only the truth.

Monday, April 21, 2008

In what has to be one of the most polite bitchslaps ever, in an open letter, Richard Dawkins stands up for his friend - and one of my heros, the good and right Michael Shermer.

Mr J, you have been cruelly duped by Ben Stein and his unscrupulous colleagues. It is a wicked, evil thing they have done to you, and potentially to many others. I do not know whether they knowingly and wantonly perpetrated the falsehood that fooled you. Perhaps they genuinely and sincerely believed it, although other actions by them, which you can read about all over the Internet, persuade me that they are fully capable of deliberate and calculated deception. You are perhaps not to be blamed for swallowing the film's falsehoods, because you probably assumed that nobody would have the gall to make a whole film like that without checking their facts first. Perhaps even you will need a little more convincing that they were wrong, in which case I urge you to read it up and study the matter in detail -- something that Ben Stein and his crew manifestly and lamentably failed to do.

With my good wishes, and sympathy for the losses your family suffered in the Holocaust.

This has to be Hillary's line of thought. But given how far in debt her campaign is, she may have to loan herself another few million to make a dent in Indiana, because she's certainly not raising much cash elsewhere.

March monthly reports filed Sunday night with the Federal Election Commission show Clinton with a $10.3 million debt load  and only $9.3 million cash-on-hand for with 10 contests to go.

Obama reported having $42 million for the primary and minimal debt.

About half of Clinton's debt -- $4.6 million -- is owed to Penn's polling firm. The campaign has already shelled out $14 million to Penn, Schoen & Berland.

‘‘Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage?

We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.

But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, ‘Stay the course’. Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned ‘Titanic’. I’ll give you a sound bite: ‘Throw all the bums out!’

You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving ‘pom-poms’ instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of the ‘America’ my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?

I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have.

The Biggest ‘C’ is Crisis!

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It’s easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else’s kids off to war when you’ve never seen a battlefield yourself. It’s another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess, so here’s where we stand. We’re immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We’re running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We’re losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: ‘Where have all the leaders gone?’ Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence and common sense?

I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?

We’ve spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone’s hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn’t happen again. Now, that’s just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you’re going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when ‘The Big Three’ referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn’t elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don’t you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I’m trying to light a fire. I’m speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America. In my lifetime I’ve had the privilege of living through some of America’s greatest moments. I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises: the ‘Great Depression’, ‘World War II’, the ‘Korean War’, the ‘Kennedy Assassination’, the ‘Vietnam War’, the 1970s oil crisis and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this:

‘You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it’s building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That’s the challenge I’m raising in this book. It’s a call to ‘Action’ for people who, like me, believe in America. It’s not too late, but it’s getting pretty close. So let’s shake off the crap and go to work. Let’s tell ‘em all we’ve had ‘enough.’’

I know where Lee can find one of the leaders he's looking for. (h/t to Kipper Mathews via Alex Jones)

A white man trying to make his way on the backs of a black man again. This old coot has no shame as he tries to exploit the legacy of Civil Rights leader John Lewis for his own gain.

It was as if McCain was trying to wrap himself in the bloody shirt of John Lewis. McCain, of course, was not part of the civil rights movement. In fact, in 1983, he was one of 77 Republican House members to vote against the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. He has never been close to Lewis, according to an associate of Lewis. He did not tell Lewis he would be making this speech, and he did not invite Lewis to attend the event. Lewis learned about the speech from reporters. (And, as of this writing, Lewis has yet to comment on it.) Given Lewis' high-profile support of Obama, McCain's speech--which was far more about John Lewis than John McCain--was rather odd. After all, the "better country" that Lewis now fights for would be led by a President Obama.

Tuesday is a big deal with the Pennsylvania primary, but it's also a day when the senate will be debating the future of the internets, especially where net neutrality is concerned. John Kerry is driving this point home, and is asking us all to keep the pressure on our senators. So do it. Write or call your senators to let them know that you're still watching them on this very important issue.www.senate.gov

It was a bit hard, and I really had to force myself to do it, not because I needed more evidence to reinforce what I already know to be true, but because I owed it to all those who have died or have been injured in Bush's pointless war in Iraq to see the films and documentaries made about it. So I made myself go to see Body of War, a documentary about Tomas Young, 25 years old, paralyzed from a bullet to his spine - wounded after serving in Iraq for less than a week.

Needless to say, it was very moving, and it made me very angry. Not that I needed to be any more angry, and I certainly don't want to be this angry. What fuels my anger even more, though, is that most Americans will not see this movie, nor will they see any other documentary about this horrible and stupid war that the country was duped into believing was necessary. And, as time goes on, they will continue to care less and less about the war, just as they are doing now, as Americans turn their attention to the economy, even though the war is one of the biggest factors on our tanking economy.

As the body count piles up, Americans tune out. Iraq is not Vietnam, Iraq is worse than Vietnam. It may not be worse in terms of actual deaths, but it is worse in terms of apathy by Americans towards our dying soldiers. It is worse in terms of sympathy for the Iraqis who are suffering. It is worse in terms of the media's abdication of their responsibility to report the truth. It is worse in terms of the damage it is doing to this country.

Every American who is not serving or has not served in this current war in Iraq owes it to every soldier who has fallen - dead or injured - on Iraqi soil, to see this film, and every other film made about this war. To turn a blind eye or deaf ear to the war would be disgraceful, and would dishonor the service of our troops.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Just like Republicans, the Clintons have mastered the art of projecting their own negatives and misdeeds on their opponents. As Ze Frank sung, it's "say the opposite, say the opposite." But this bit of news is completely whacko.

Richard Mellon Scaife (of right wing conspiracy fame) endorsed Clinton in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. Scaife owns the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, which threw its backing to Clinton today. It cites Clinton’s “political courage” in particular for sitting down with its editorial board. (There, she famously injected herself into the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy.)

The paper said, in part: "Clinton's decision to sit down with the Trib was courageous, given our longstanding criticism of her. That is no small matter: Political courage is essential in a president. Clinton has demonstrated it; Obama has not."

This is the same Richard Mellon-Scaife who did his very best to destroy Bill Clinton's presidency with fabricated conspiracies.

Having a tea party with your former arch-nemesis does not show political courage, especially when that nemesis is also the mortal enemy of your fellow competitor (Obama), and your compatriots (Democrats). It's more like "my enemy's enemy is my friend" sort of thing. Making the rounds on the right-wing networks is also not politically courageous, is politically disingenuous, especially when most Democrats avoid these dens of lies because their ultimate agenda is anathema to theirs.

As we watch Joe Lieberman morph into Zell Miller, it seems that Hillary Clinton is morphing into Lieberman. All DINOs cum Republicans-lite. Any progressive-minded Democrat should be terrified by this.

Hillary Clinton is making deals with devils, and we all know how those stories end.

This one coming from the New York Times, and it's being delivered to the Pentagon, Fox News and other news outlets, and all the suckers in America who were too blind, dumb, or willfully ignorant to know they were being fed truckloads of bullshit by the Pentagon's sock puppets.

As said of these sock puppets:

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

SNAP!

Not that any of this should come as a surprise for those of us who knew all along the invading Iraq was all bullshit, as was anything said in defense of it. Now, with over 4,000 soldiers dead, thousands more injured or horribly disfigured for life, and countless numbers of Iraqi casualties, and all because the leaders lied, and lied, and lied, and lied.